Senate Democrats harried electronic cigarette companies throughout 2014, pushing hard for new rules and restrictions on the booming multibillion-dollar industry. Now, congressional Republicans – fresh off a November election landslide – are standing up for e-cigarettes and pushing back on pending regulations critics fear may allow administrative product bans.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell last week requesting a change to proposed Food and Drug Administration regulations that may be enacted soon.
The proposed rules, released in April by the FDA, an HHS division, would require e-cigarette manufacturers to win “premarket” approval for their products within two years or pull the items from the market.
The new tobacco product approval process would apply to e-cigarette products released after February 2007, the proposed rules say, meaning…